“Dad was a sleeper cutter, and my grandfather Fred Rosenow was a sleeper cutter too.
“I don’t know how far it went back, it could have gone back further, but we have been doing it for a fair few years as the Rosenow family.”
The Rosenow family worked extensively throughout the region.
“We have cut the Barmah Forest. We cut along the Goulburn, we cut right through from Tocumwal Bridge right back to Echuca,” Doug said.
Doug explains the traditional process.
“We used to do it with a broad axe, we’d pull out trees with a cross-cut saw, and then we’d cut them with an axe,” he said.
“Take chips off the cutting edge, then we’d square them and then split the log up the middle and make two railway sleepers.”
He cut sleepers for various state railways, including Victoria, NSW, South Australia and Western Australia, each with their own specific dimensions.
The family transitioned from hand-cutting to using swing saws in 1960.
“Red gum is better than concrete,” Doug said.
“Red gum was by far the better sleeper to use, because of the flexibility they have, whereas the cement ones, once they break, you’ve got to rip them out.”
Today, Doug continues the tradition through demonstrations at various events including this weekend’s Steam Rally, Merrigum, the Barmah Muster and Nathalia’s New Year’s Eve carnival.
He has an interesting approach to his demonstrations, picking out a member of the crowd to make the final split of the sleeper.
“I never ask a man because every bloke looks at a nine-foot red gum log, and they say, ‘You can’t cut it,’” he said.
“So, I only ask women to do it, and it’s been that way for the last 24 years.”
“At the demos, we entertain people and tell them about sleeper cutting in the bush and what the bush was like when it was a working forest,” Doug said.
Doug proudly holds the distinction of being the last sleeper cutter in the Barmah Forest.
